and Respect but what is relative or equal between Men. Princ. They Honour all Men in the Lord but not in the Spirit and Fashions of this World that pass away and tho' they do not pull off their Hats or make Curchings nor give flattering Titles or Complements because they believe there is no true Honour but Flattery and Sin in the using of them yet they treat all Men with Seriousness and Gentleness and are ready to do them any reasonable Benefit or Service in which they think real Honour consisteth Whereas those that thus reproach them are often Peevish Snappish Abusive and Oppressive one to another tho' at the same time they can give one another the Cap and Knee which is far from true Civility or honouring all Men as they are exhorted by the Apostle And as for expressing their respect to their Superiors they think it best done by obeying all just Laws under their Government according to the saying of the Centurion unto Christ and which Christ so much approved of Luk. 7. 8 9. Pervers 17. The Quakers are Enemies to all Government every one acting according to his own Conceit Princ. That this a Calumny their Lives and Conversations sufficiently shew for no People give the Magistracy less Trouble or cause that Charge or Burden to sit lighter on their Shoulders than they do And for their Principle They believe Magistracy to be an Ordinance of God And he that Ruleth well to be worthy of double Honour and is to be much valued and esteemed as such certainly do who are a Terror to Evil doers and a Praise to them that do well And further to shew that they are a People that love Order and good Government they carefully practise it among themselves for if there be twenty Meetings of Worship in a County they peradventure make three or four Monthly Meetings of Business and these Monthly Meetings are resolved into a Quarterly Meeting for the County by such Members as they severally appoint to constitute it And all the Quarterly Meetings in the Nation by chosen Men out of themselves do constitute one general Yearly Meeting unto which the Meetings of those People in all parts of the World have their Recourse by Chosen Messengers or by Epistles The Business of all which Meetings in their several Degrees being to promote Virtue and Charity Peace and Unity Thus sober Reader thou hast an Account of this People their Principles and Practice and thereby thou mayst see if thou pleasest with how little Reason they are despised by some and abused by others which hath been their Lot in a large Measure ever since they have been a People Though the whole bent of their Spirits and Testimony since God by his Grace hath raised them to be a People hath been to promote the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in the World by turning all People from darkness to the light of Christ in them as the great and singular Agent and Principle by which only Man is enlightned and inabled to see and do the Will of God For till Men are quickned by this divine Principle they are Hypocrites and not Christians and Bastards and not Sons Neither can they have true Faith whatsoever they profess nor can they truly worship God whatever they perform Oh then let the poor Quakers and their abused Principles have better entertainment with thee Reader And do not conclude because they direct People to the Light of Christ in them that therefore it is a meer natural and not a divine Light Or because they assert Christ to be the Word of God and that he is revealed in the Heart according to the Scripture and that the Scripture in that sense is not so therefore they deny the divine Authority of the Scriptures and that the Truth thereof is not in any sense the Word of the Lord Or because they don't receive the Schoolmens Trinity therefore they deny the Scripture Trinity of Father Word and Spirit Or that therefore they deny the Divinity of the Word Or that they deny Christ without them who was the Son of Man in a suffering state on Earth and is now the Son of Man in Glory because they exalt and press the knowledge of Christ within as the Truth and Excellency of the Hope of the Glory that hereafter shall be revealed according to Col. 1. 26 27 28 29. and 2 Cor. 13. 5. as being the Riches of the Glory of the Mysteries revealed and to be revealed in these latter days Neither say that they hope to be saved by their own works since they maintain that no Works that are not wrought by the Spirit of God are acceptable to him Or that they hold even such Works meritorious because they say good Works are necessary and rewardable Or that they deny the use of Means because they reject Ungospel ones or that they deny Baptism and the Supper because they say they experience their Accomplishments Neither say that they honour no Man because they forbear Titles and Ceremonies in which true honour consists not Or that they are against Government because they cannot conform to it in Matters relating to Religion and Conscience in which Christ only is Lord and King Since thou seest Reader That they believe the Light to be divine and the Scriptures to be of divine Authority That they own the Scripture Trinity or holy Three of Father Word and Spirit to be truly and properly one that Christ is God and that Christ is Man that he came in the Flesh died rose again ascended and sits on God's right hand the only Sacrifice and Mediator for Man's happiness That truly Gospel Means and Ordinances are requisite and to be reverently practised That good Works are necessary and rewardable That all Men are to be honoured in the Lord according to their Degrees and that Government in Church and State is God's Ordinance and both requisite and very beneficial Now Reader that which remains is to recommend thee to this divine Principle They make the Root and Spring of all true sense of God and Religion in Man even the Light within which comes from Christ and is Christ the eternal Word and brings all that follow the Convictions and Leadings of it to Christ and to know him in themselves the hope of their Eternal Glory Who as he is of Abraham after the Flesh so is he God the true Light over all blessed forever that inlightens all in order to Life and Blessedness Unto whose holy and blessed Light thou Reader art recommended Love it and walk in it and thou shalt have Fellowship with God and with his Saints and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son shall cleanse thee from all Sin 1 Jo. 1. 5 6 7. which is most earnestly desired on thy Behalf FINIS Books Printed for Tho. Northcott in George-yard in Lombard-street 1693. TRuth Triumphant through the Spiritual Warfare Christian Labours and Writings of that able and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ Robert Barclay price bound 13s The Truth Exalted in the Writings of that eminent and faithful Servant of Christ John Burnyeat price bound 2s 6d The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches in New England and elsewhere brought to the Test and examined according to the Doctrin of the Holy Scriptures in their Doctrin Ministry Worship Constitution Government Sacraments and Sabbath day By G. Keith Price bound 1s 6d The Divine Light of Christ in Man and his Mediation truly confessed by the People called Quakers By G. VVhitehead Price 2d The Fundamental Truths of Christianity by G. Keith price bound 8d His Way to the City of God described Elizabeth Bathurst's Truth 's Vindication price bound 8d The Spirit of the Martyrs Revived pricâ— bound 4s
A KEY Opening a way to every Common Understanding How to discern the Difference betwixt the Religion professed by the People called QUAKERS and the Perversions Misrepresentations and Calumnies of their several Adversaries Published in great good Will to all but more especially for their sakes That are actually under Prejudice from vulgar Abuses LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-yard in Lombard-street 1693. CONTENTS 1. OF the Light within what it is and the Vertue and Benefit of it 2. Of the Scriptures and their Truth and Service 3. Of the Spirit of God and its Office with respect to Man 4. Of the Holy Three or Scripture-Trinity 5. Of the Divinity of Christ 6. Of the Manhood of Christ 7. Of Christ Jesus and his performances for Man's Salvation 8. Of Good Works that they are necessary and rewardable but not Meritorious 9. Of Water-Baptism and the Supper 10. Of the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Recompence 11. Of Civil Honour and Respect 12. Of Civil Government Reader IT is very unfair and indiscreet in any to oppose and calumniate what they do not understand It has been our unhappiness far more than all that our Adversaries have been able to say against us that hitherto we remain unknown by those who yet stick not to condemn us We must confess that our Principles as disguised and misrepresented in the World may well enough have given Offence to Those That have not thought it worth their while to take the Pains of enquiring further Nor indeed can we take it ill that People should be shy to entertain them under those frightful Vizards some have put upon them and yet they must be inexcusable that will take our Belief at our Enemies Hands rather than our own who best know what we believe But it will be the business of this little Key to explain the Difficulty and shew the Difference between our Principles and the Vulgar Mistakes and thereby open a way into so clear and plain an Understanding of the Quakers Principles from their Enemies Perversions as we hope with God's Blessing all impartial Enquirers will be satisfied of our Holy and Christian Profession Which we earnestly desire for their Good Knowing that as we have been called of God to be a People to him through his Grace none may stumble or be offended at the Truth we testifie of but seeing the Excellency of it may imbrace it and walk in it the only best way to end Controversy and obtain the great and true End of Religion the Salvation of the Soul Perversion I. THe Quakers hold that the Natural Light in the Conscience of every Man in the World is sufficient to save all that follow it and so overthrow Salvation by Christ. Principle This is a great Mistake for their Belief and Assertion is That Christ who is the Word that was with God and was God and is so for ever hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World with his own Light as he is that True Light or such a Light as there is no other to be compared to him Which is the meaning of the Emphasis True in the Text and that such as follow the Reproofs Convictions and Leadings of that Light with which he enlightens the Understandings and Consciences of Men shall not walk in Darkness that is in Evil and Ignorance of God but shall have the Light of Life which Life is a living Condition towards God and a state of acceptance and Salvation and for which end Christ was given of God See Isa 49. 6. Jo. 1. 4 9. 3. 21. 5. 40. 8. 12. 10. 10. So that they assert the Light of Christ sufficient and not a Natural Light otherwise than as all Men born into the world have a measure of Christ's Light and so it may be said to be natural to all Men. For this Light is something else than the bare Understanding Man hath as a rational Creature For as such Man cannot be a Light to himself But has only a capacity of seeing by means of the Light that Christ the Word enlighteneth him withal For we can no more be a mental or Intellectual Light to our selves than we are an External and Corporeal Light to our selves But as the Sun in the Firmament is the Light of our Bodies so the Light of the divine Word is the Sun of our Souls the glorious Luminary of the intellectual World and they that walk in it and by it will come to Blessedness Pervert 2. The Quakers hold the Light within them is God Christ and the Holy Spirit so that every Quaker has whole God Christ and Spirit in him Which is gross Blasphemy Princ. This is also a Mistake of their Belief They never said that every Illumimination in the Hearts of Men was whole God Christ or the Spirit whereby to be guilty of that gross and blasphemous Absurdity they would fasten on them But that God who is Light or the Word Christ who is Light the Quickning Spirit and God over all blessed for ever 1 Cor. 15. 45 47. hath enlightned Mankind with a Measure of Saving Light So that the Illumination is from God or Christ the Word but not therefore whole God or Christ in every Man no more than the whole Sun or Air is in every House or Chamber There are no such harsh and unscriptural Words in their Writings It is only a frightful Perversion of some of their Enemies to bring a Scandal upon their Holy Faith Yet in a Sense the Scriptures say it and that is their Sense in which they say the same thing He that is with you shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you I in them and they in me Christ in us the hope of Glory Unless Christ be in you ye are Reprobates Of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Jo. 14. 3 17. 18. 20. Col. 1. 26 27. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Gal. 4. 19. Now if they who denied his coming in the Flesh though high professing Jews were Antichrists because Enemies to that Appearance and Dispensation of God to Men what must they be reputed who as stiffly disown his nearer and more spiritual coming formation and dominion in the Soul Which is to be sure the higher and nobler Knowledg of Christ yea the Mystery hid from Ages and now revealed to God's People the Riches of the Glory of the Mystery which God reserved to be made known to the Gentiles Col. 1. 27. Certainly though they are called Christians they must be no whit less Antichrists than those obstinate Jews of old Pervert 3. By the Quakers Doctrine every Man must be saved for every Man they say is savingly enlightned Prin. Not so For though the Light or Grace of God hath and doth more or less appear to all Men and that it brings Salvation to as many as will be taught by it to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlikely in this
present evil World as Jo. 3. 20 21. Tit. 2. 11 12. yet it no ways follows that Men must obey and learn so to do whether they will or not God tenders Saving Light or Grace to all Gen. 6. 3. Ezek. 18. 21 22 23 24. Mic. 6. 8. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. he strives and pleads with all but if they will not hearken to his Spirit Grace or Light he is clear of their Blood His Light is saving that lighteth them but it saveth them not if they rebel against it Job 17. 16. 21. 17. 24. 13. In short tho Men are lighted or visited with a saving Light or Grace yet the Quakers never concluded nor is it rightly concludable from their Testimony that such Men must necessarily and absolutely be saved whether they obey or rebel Pervers 4. By the Quakers Light or Spirit they may be moved to Murder Adultery Treason Theft or any such like Wickedness because they say that such as are have the Light within them Princ. This never was their Doctrine nor is it consequent of it though they hold all have Light they never said all obeyed it or that evil Men were led by it much less could the Light be chargable with the Sins of those that refused to be led by it for herein they know the Spirit of God and the Motions of it from the Spirit of this World and its Fruits That the Spirit of God condemns all Ungodliness and moves and inclines to purity mercy righteousness which are of God as Jo. 16. 7 8 13. ch 3. 20 21. Gal. 5. 16 26. They deny and abominate that ranting Spirit that would charge the Spirit of God with their unholy Liberty God's Spirit makes free from Sin and not to sin Neither do they distinguish as such loose People wickedly do between the Act and the Evil of it Wherefore they say that as the Tree is known and denominated from the Fruit so Spirits by their Motions and Inclinations And the Spirit of God never did incline to evil and for that cause they renounce that construction of such Ranters That evil is no evil when they pretend to be led to it by Gods Spirit for that never was nor can be the way and method of his Spirit which is pure and holy for ever And Man's Sin and Destruction are of himself but his Help is in God alone through Christ Pervers 5. The Quakers must be all infallible and perfect if they have such an infallible Light Princ. This is also a great Abuse of their true meaning They say the Principle is pure perfect unerrable in it self or else it were unfit to lead Men to Heaven but they never did assert themselves such meerly because it was in them by no means But that all who are led by it are so far perfect and so far infallibly in the right way and no jot further Who can lay down a more Independent Doctrin upon Self and a more depending one upon the Grace or Gift of God Let them not be Mistaken nor suffer for such misapprehensions nor be made to hold what they don't to disrepute them with sober People or support the mistaken Charges of their Enemies Yet to shew that a State of Perfection is attainable they urge among others these Scriptures Gen. 17. 1. Deut. 18. 13. 2 Sam. 23. 33. Job 1. 1 8. ch 2. 3. and 8. 20. Psal 18. 32. and 119. 1. Prov. 2. 21. Mar. 5. 48. Luke 6. 40. 1 Cor. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 13. 9 11. Eph. 4. 13. 1 Thess 3. 10. 1 Tim. 3. 17. Jam. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 5. 10. Heb. 6. 1. 1 J. 4. 13. Pervers 6. The Quakers deny the Scriptures for they deny them to be the Word of God Princ. They own the Scriptures as they own themselves viz. A Declaration of those things most truly believed given forth in all Ages by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit consequently that they are profitable for Reading for Exhortation for Reproof in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfectly furnished They are the Form of Sound Words They profess to believe them read them and say it is the Work they have to do in this World and the earnest Desire of their Souls to Almighty God that they may witness the fulfilling of them that so God's Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven But to call them the Word of God which they never called themselves but which they peculiarly denominate and call Christ by as Jo. 1. 4 14. Rev. 19. 13. In reverence to Christ and in no slight to them which they believe to be of divine Authority and embrace as the best of Books and allow to be as much the Word of God as a Book can be They do as in Duty and Reason bound attribute that Title to Christ only And yet as the Word of God signifies the Command of God referring to the thing commanded it may be called the Word of the Lord or Word of God as on particular occasions the Prophets had the Word of the Lord to Persons and Places that is to say that which was commanded them of the Lord. So Christ uses it Mar. 7. 13. when he tells the Pharisees That they had made the Word or Command of God of none effect by their Traditions But because People are so apt to think if they have the Scriptures they have all for that they are the Word of God and so look no farther therefore this people have felt themselves constrained by God's Spirit to point them to the great Word of Words Christ Jesus in whom is Life and that Life the Light of Men that they might feel something nearer to them than the Scriptures even the Word in the Heart Christ within them the Hope of their Glory Deut. 22. 12. Rom. 10. 6 7 8. who is the Author and Expounder of Holy Scripture and without whose Light Spirit or Grace they are not profitably read by those that read them Pervers 7. They deny them to be any Means whereby to resist Temptation Princ. This is a very uncharitable aspersion True it is that they deny the Scriptures meerly or of themselves to be sufficient to resist Temptation for then all that have them and read them would be preserved by them against Temptations But that they should deny them to be any Means or Instrument whereby to do it when they allow their own Writings may be such is either great Ignorance or Malice in their Adversaries God has made use of the Scriptures and doth and will make use of them for Reproof Comfort and Edification through the Spirit Thus they say they have felt them and so they are made to them through the good Spirit of God coming in upon their Spirits in the reading of them Pervers 8. The Quakers assert the Spirit of God to be the immediate Teacher and that there is no other Means now to be used Princ. They never spake such Language But herein they perceive the great
subtilty of Satan as in other things to darken the Appearance of Truth and prepossess Peoples Minds against it For since he cannot hinder the Exaltation of the Spirit above all visible Instruments and the Necessity of its Motions and Operations to be known in the Hearts of Men and the great suitableness of it to the Gospel Administration he would spoil all by overdoing For they never denied the use of Means but to this Day from the beginning they have been in the use of them But then they are such Means as are used in the Life and Power of God and not in and from Mans meer Wit Will or Imitation the thing they strike at For instance they cannot own that to be a Gospel Ministry that is without a Gospel Spirit or that such can be sent of God that are not taught of God or that they are fit to teach others what Regeneration and the Way to Heaven are that have never been born again themselves or that such can ever bring Souls to God that are themselves strangers like those in the Acts 19. 21. to the Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost This is only the Ministry and these the Ministers that the People called Quakers cannot own and receive and therefore cannot maintain For the Ministry and Ministers that are according to Scripture they both own and delight in Read Jo. 14. 16 17 26. ch 16. 13. Acts 1. 8. Gal. 1. 1 15 16. It is strange because they deny all false Means or means not used in the Leadings of God's Power and Spirit that therefore they must deny all means however rightly employed This is an Injustice in their Enemies Wherefore all are desired to take notice That Evangelical Means and Order they love and desire to keep for they diligently assemble themselves together to worship God where they both pray in the Spirit and prophesie one by one as any thing is revealed to them according to 1 Cor. 14. 15 29 30 31. Nor are they without Spiritual Songs making Melody in their Hearts to God their Redeemer by the same Holy Ghost as they are comforted and moved by it Eph. 5. 19. Pervers 9. The Quakers deny the Trinity Princ. Nothing less They believe in the Holy Three or Trinity of Father Word and Spirit Jo. 1. 1. ch 14. 9. Rom. 9. 5. 1 Jo. 5. 7. And that these three are truly and properly one Of one Nature as well as Will. But they are very tender of quitting Scripture Terms and Phrases for Schoolmen's 1 Cor. 1. 18 31. ch 2. 2 6. Col. 2. 8. as Persons and Substances c. are And they judge that a curious Enquiry into those High and Divine Relations tends not to Godliness and Peace which should be the Aim of true Christians and therefore they cannot gratify that Curiosity in themselves or others Speculative Truths being to be sparingly and tenderly declared and never to be made the Measures of Christianity or Christian Communion For besides that Christ Jesus hath taught them other things the sad Consequences in all Times of superfining upon Scripture Texts hath sufficiently forbid them Men are too apt to let their Heads out-run their Hearts and Notion Obedience and with Passion to support their Conceits Pervers 10. The Quakers deny Christ to be God Princ. Nothing can well be more untrue and unreasonable for their great and characteristick Principle being this That Christ enlightens the Souls of all Men that come into the World with a Saving Light which nothing but the Creator of Souls can do It does sufficiently shew They believe him to be God But they truly and expressly own him so according to Jo. 1. 1. and Rom. 9. 5. to be God over all blessed for ever Pervers 11. The Quakers deny the Human Nature of Christ Princ. They never taught or said or held so gross a thing if by Human Nature be understood the Manhood of Christ Jesus For as they believe him to be God over all blessed for ever so they believe him to be of the Seed of Abraham and David after the Flesh and therefore truly and properly Man like us in all things and once subject to all things for our sakes Sin only excepted See Is 7. 14. Matt. 1. 23. Luke 1. 31. Pervers 12. The Quakers deny Christ's Transactions at Jerusalem and the shedding his Blood to be beneficial to them for it is the Light within only they expect to be saved by Princ. This is untruly charged upon them They do say that the Appearance of the second Adam Jo. 1. 14. Heb. 10. 5. the Lord from Heaven the Quickning Spirit in that holy Body prepared of the Father for him was for the Salvation of the World that had fallen in the first Adam That whatever Christ then did both Living and Dying was of great Benesit to all that then believed and is still to all that now do and hereafter shall to the end believe in him as they receive and obey the manifestation of his Light in their Consciences which leads Men to believe and value and not to disown Christ as the common Sacrifice and Mediator For they do affirm That to come to that Light and turn their Minds and bring all their Deeds and Thoughts to that is the readiest nay the only right way to come to have true Faith in Christ as he appeared in the Flesh and to discern the Lord's Body aright and to receive any real Benefit by him as their only Sacrifice and Mediator And it is not another than that Blessed Word Light Power Wisdom and Eternal Righteousness who then appeared in that Holy Body by whom they have received or can receive any true spiritual Benefit Light is from him Forgiveness through him and Sanctification only by him So that their ascribing Salvation in this Age to him who now appears to their Souls as before expressed cannot render him no Saviour in that Age or invalidate the Benefit of his blessed Appearance then on Earth or Mediation now in Heaven Whose Doctrine pierced whose Life preached whose Miracles astonished whose Blood attoned and whose Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven confirmed that Blessed Manifestation to be no less than the Word God who is Life and Light manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. for the Salvation of the World and therefore properly and truly the Son of Man on Earth and now the Son of Man in Glory Pervers 13. The Quakers set up Works and Meriting by Works like the Papists whereby Justification by Faith in Christ is laid aside Princ. By no means They say with the Apostle James ch 2. That true Faith in Christ cannot be without Works no more than a Body can live without a Spirit and where there is Life there is Motion and where there is no Divine Life there is no Faith Nay by the Comparison if they were separable Works being compared to the Spirit would have the better The very believing is an Act of the Mind and therefore a godly Work and